Kuldeep Bishnoi leaves for Delhi as I-T attaches asset worth ₹150 cr

Delhi Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU) of the Income Tax department has attached benami assets worth ₹150 crore.

After the Income-tax department on Tuesday attached ₹150 crore benami property of Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, the Adampur MLA has cancelled all his political programmes and left for Delhi.

Haryana Congress leader and Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi. (HT File)

Requesting anonymity, a close friend of Bishnoi said, he had scheduled four-day political tours in Mandi Adampur area of Hisar district and was about to leave for a political programme but as the news of attaching property surfaced, he left for Delhi.

He said Bishnoi also told his workers that he will return to Adampur by Wednesday and continue his programmes.

In July, the Income-tax department officials had raided Bishnoi’s residences in Hisar, Delhi, Adampur of Hisar and Gurugram. The teams reached Hisar on July 23 and the raid continued till July 26. Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya Bishnoi was taken to Delhi by the team.

A few days after the raids, Kuldeep Bishnoi with his family members gathered in Adampur area and told his followers that the recent raids were a conspiracy to tarnish his political image.

Notably, Delhi Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU) of the Income Tax department has attached benami assets worth ₹150 crore. The Bristol Hotel in Haryana’s Gurugram, in which 34% shares are held in the name of a front company registered in British Virgin Island (BVI), and operated inter alia from United Arab Emirates (UAE). The asset is owned in the name of a company named Bright Star Hotel Private Limited.

Investigations revealed that the said entity and its assets are the benami assets of Kuldeep Bishnoi and his brother Chander Mohan, sons of former chief minister of Haryana Late Bhajan Lal. The provisional order of attachment was issued under Section 24(3) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988.

(With agency inputs)